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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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Meeting |
Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee |
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Date |
1 September 2025 |
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Present |
Councillors Douglas (Chair), Kilbane (Vice-Chair), and Ayre |
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Officers in Attendance |
Claire Waind – HR Manager |
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35. Apologies for Absence (5:30pm)
No apologies were received.
36. Declarations of Interest (5:30pm)
At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare if they had any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests that they might have had in the business on the agenda. None were declared.
37. Exclusion of Press and Public (5:31pm)
Resolved: That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of Annex A to Agenda Item 7 (Redundancy, Pensions and Exit Discretions Expenditure) on the grounds that they contained information relating to individuals and the financial affairs of particular persons. This information is classed as exempt under Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as revised by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006).
38. Minutes (5:32pm)
Resolved: That the minutes of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee held on 14 July 2025 be approved and then signed by the Chair as a correct record.
39. Public Participation (5:32pm)
It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.
40. Workforce Profile as at Quarter 1 2025/26 (5:32pm)
The HR Manager presented the report and noted that there were no variances or spikes at any point within the data, which was presented, and that employee turnover remained steady at 12%.
In response to questions from members the HR Manager confirmed that:
· Work was ongoing to investigate reasons behind resignations such as through exit interviews etc.
· Work was ongoing with managers within different directorates to understand spikes in average sickness days per FTE, as seen in table 1.3 of Annex A. It was noted that future retirements should show a dip in figures. Improvements in working with systems such as Medigold was ensuring referrals for counselling were going through much more quickly.
Resolved: That the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee noted the workforce profile provided in Annex A of the report and this covering report including addition of retention payment details as per paragraph 16.
Reason: In order to provide an overview of the workforce profile.
41. Redundancy, Pension and Exit Discretions Expenditure (5:40pm)
The HR Manager presented the report and highlighted that there had been three new contractual redundancies to note.
In response to questions from members, the HR Manager confirmed that:
· Payments shown in Annex A of the report were payments of which City of York Council were legally obliged to pay regardless of budgetary strains.
· Figures shown within the pension costs did not show a lump sum payment but instead showed the additional cost attributed upon receipt of pension and indirectly paid to the individual.
Resolved: That the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee noted the expenditure and cases that had been approved.
Reason: To provide an overview of expenditure.
42. Work Plan (5:52pm)
Resolved: That members considered the work plan for the municipal year 2025-2026.
Reason: To ensure the Committee maintains a programme of work for the municipal year 2025-2026.
Cllr Douglas, Chair
[The meeting started at 5.30 pm and finished at 5.53 pm].